Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS England Trusts were advised to put Sciensus on their risk register following an inspection of the supplier by the Care Quality Commission; when they were advised to do so; and which of those Trusts still have the supplier on their risk register.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
From 26 November 2020 to 14 December 2020, Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced inspection at Sciensus Pharma Services Limited. Following the publication of the inspection report in May 2021, CQC rated the provider inadequate and placed it in special measures. CQC carried out another unannounced inspection of the provider between 27 July 2021 and 11 August 2021. Following the publication of the inspection report in October 2021, CQC noted improvement from the provider and removed it from special measures. The provider currently has an overall ‘good’ rating.
NHS England are members of National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC). Following the publication report in May 2021, NHMC monitored Sciensus via the NHMC Supplier Engagement Supplier Performance Escalation Process. NHMC communicated regularly with various stakeholders throughout this period, including Chief Pharmacists Networks, NHS Pharmacy Homecare Teams, Commercial Medicines Unit and NHS England Specialised Commissioning. The NHMC chair was also invited to periodic discussions with the General Pharmaceutical Council and CQC inspectors. Following a final meeting on 4 April 2023, NHMC stepped down service performance monitoring to normal levels of quarterly reviews with the Sciensus senior management team. Sciensus worked closely with NHMC during the initial difficulties, through the recovery phase and later.
NHS England do not hold information centrally relating to risk registers. Decisions about risk registers at National Health Service trusts is the responsibility of the individual trusts themselves.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2022 to Question 26838 on NHS: Sciensus, when the Care Quality Commission required Sciensus to enter special measures; when Sciensus left special measures; and what meetings were held between Sciensus and (a) the National Homecare Medicines Committee and (b) NHS England during this period.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
From 26 November 2020 to 14 December 2020, Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced inspection at Sciensus Pharma Services Limited. Following the publication of the inspection report in May 2021, CQC rated the provider inadequate and placed it in special measures. CQC carried out another unannounced inspection of the provider between 27 July 2021 and 11 August 2021. Following the publication of the inspection report in October 2021, CQC noted improvement from the provider and removed it from special measures. The provider currently has an overall ‘good’ rating.
NHS England are members of National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC). Following the publication report in May 2021, NHMC monitored Sciensus via the NHMC Supplier Engagement Supplier Performance Escalation Process. NHMC communicated regularly with various stakeholders throughout this period, including Chief Pharmacists Networks, NHS Pharmacy Homecare Teams, Commercial Medicines Unit and NHS England Specialised Commissioning. The NHMC chair was also invited to periodic discussions with the General Pharmaceutical Council and CQC inspectors. Following a final meeting on 4 April 2023, NHMC stepped down service performance monitoring to normal levels of quarterly reviews with the Sciensus senior management team. Sciensus worked closely with NHMC during the initial difficulties, through the recovery phase and later.
NHS England do not hold information centrally relating to risk registers. Decisions about risk registers at National Health Service trusts is the responsibility of the individual trusts themselves.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how long data is retained by the NHS on people being given the all clear for breast cancer; and whether their is a maximum time limit for someone to receive a diagnosis of secondary cancer when cancer is diagnosed at a future point.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, as the national cancer registry, collects diagnosis and treatment data on cancer patients in England. NDRS data sets do not include an “all clear” date or a proxy for this date.
To aid research and support future improvements in patient care, the data collected by the national cancer registry may be stored indefinitely. If a patient requires further treatment for cancer, the data collection will resume, and Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset contains the requirement for hospitals to state if this episode of disease is for a new or existing diagnosis.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help support integrated care boards determine how many people are unable to access an NHS dentist; and if he will make an assessment of how many people are unable to afford private treatment by integrated care board areas in England.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The GP Patient Survey includes questions on whether patients have tried to obtain an appointment with a National Health Service dentist, and, if so, whether they had been successful. Where appropriate, the GP Patient Survey also captures the reasons why patients have not tried to obtain an appointment in the previous two years.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to Answer of 25 July 2022 to Question 19662 on Dental Services: Finance, how much and what proportion of the £50 million funding for increasing access to dental care was taken up by practices in (a) Yorkshire, (b) the North East and (c) England since January 2022.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We made an additional £50 million in funding available for National Health Service dentistry in England in the last quarter of 2021/22 to provide urgent care. The appointments were targeted at patients in most need of urgent dental treatment, including vulnerable groups and children.
The following table shows the information requested in respect of the North-East and Yorkshire region together and England. Separate breakdowns for North-East and Yorkshire are not available.
Region description | Funding allocated (£) | Financial value spent (£) | Financial value spent as a proportion of the £50 million funding made available |
North-East and Yorkshire | £8,633,000 | £1,980,962 | 4.0% |
England | £50,000,000 | £14,172,074 | 28.3% |
Note: The financial value spent was the amount paid to contractors between February and March 2022.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cancer patients received radiotherapy treatment within the 62-day referral to treatment target; and what steps he is taking to reduce wait times for cancer radiotherapy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of patients receiving radiotherapy treatment for cancer is reported in the 31 days waiting time standard from decision to treat to a subsequent treatment for cancer.
From latest data available, the total number of cancer patients who received radiotherapy treatment in December 2022 was 8,054, of which 7,306 patients received treatment within the 31 days standard.
The Department is taking steps to support the National Health Service deliver this standard and reduce waiting times for treatment, including for cancer radiotherapy treatments. To support elective recovery, the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/2023 to 2024/2025, of which £2.3 billion will be used to expand diagnostics and £1.5 billion for treatment, with a focus on cancer treatment.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the potential impact of testosterone levels in women on (a) normal metabolic functioning, (b) cognitive functioning, (c) mood, (d) bone and muscle strength, (e) urinary health and (f) reproductive health was considered by NICE when its guidance on Menopause: Diagnosis and Management was most recently revised; and whether NICE plans to take those factors into consideration for its next review of this guidance.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In developing its guideline on the diagnosis and management of menopause, published in 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) considered the effectiveness, including risks and benefits, of testosterone in the management and relief of menopause-related symptoms including vasomotor, musculoskeletal and psychological symptoms, as well as altered sexual function. The guideline recommends that testosterone supplementation should be considered for menopausal women with low sexual desire if hormone replacement therapy alone is not effective.
NICE is currently updating its guideline on the diagnosis and management of menopause, which it expects to publish in February 2024. During its surveillance and scoping process, NICE did not identify any substantive new evidence on the use of testosterone beyond the existing recommendations. NICE discussed the need for evidence in this area with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) who have agreed to scope new research. The NIHR launched the research call in December 2022 and more information on is available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/22170-testosterone-for-the-treatment-of-menopause-symptoms-beyond-altered-sexual-function/32031
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) efficacy of the testosterone products licensed in England in enabling consistent and accurate self-administration of the dosages typically needed for Hormone Replacement Therapy in women and (b) potential merits of licensing testosterone products specifically designed to dispense these dosages.
Answered by Will Quince
Testosterone products in the United Kingdom are licensed in various pharmaceutical forms including solution for injection, capsules and gels. All of these products are licensed for use in men only. No such product is currently licensed for women, however should such an application be received, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will review the benefits and risks with regard to quality, safety and efficacy.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to her Oral Answer of 25 January 2023, Official Report, column 993, what steps her Department took to ensure those attending the planned meeting were representative of all those affected by mesh injury; and if she will (a) provide details of those who attended the meeting and (b) publish the minutes of that meeting.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I attended an event to mark the launch of the Patient Safety Commissioner’s 100 days report, which some mesh campaigners also attended. I will meet with these mesh campaigners representing pelvic and rectopexy mesh again on 20 March.
Ministerial meetings are published on GOV.UK at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2023 to Question 147273 on Hormone Replacement Therapy: Prescriptions, how many women are prescribed testosterone as part of their Hormone Replacement Therapy; and what assessment he has made of the impact on those women of excluding testosterone from inclusion on the Hormone Replacement Therapy Pre-Payment Certificate.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) holds data for primary and secondary care prescribing that has been dispensed in the community in England. In the latest 12 months for which data is available, covering the period January 2022 to December 2022, 36,754 identifiable patients with a recorded gender of female were prescribed one or more items of a testosterone medicine. The NHSBSA is unable to provide any information whether these prescriptions were issued as part of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) treatment.
Testosterone has been excluded from the Hormone Replacement Therapy Pre-Payment Certificate (HRT PPC) after careful consideration and stakeholder engagement. The decision was taken as while it can be prescribed “off label” to treat menopause symptoms, it does not have a UK Marketing Authorisation (licence) for this purpose.